I am always disappointed after a loss even if it is the preseason. I wasn’t impressed that much by the showing the players put out there yesterday. The Titans were running the ball a little to well for my liking and those youts on the defensive line need to be better especially after they traded Phillips. Looking towards the cuts on Tuesday and trying to come up with the final 53, it will be affected slightly by injuries. Elijah Williams may start the year on IR with a designation to return presuming he makes the roster.
Will there be any more trades? There are a couple of speculative links below both of which are intriguing. Ty Chandler to the Texans is interesting and some could ask why the Texans would not just sign him after he is cut? Other teams with worse records could pick him up off waivers is why.
I do like the Kenny Pickett trade idea a lot.
Are you ready to submit your final 53 here? If so, please share?
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Brosmer continues to shine
It’s difficult to overstate how impressive Max Brosmer was on Friday night. The Vikings’ undrafted rookie quarterback has assuredly locked up a roster spot with his play, and there’s a real discussion to be had about whether or not he might already be suited to be Minnesota’s No. 2 QB behind J.J. McCarthy.
Brosmer has played well all throughout training camp and in the first two preseason games, but this was his best showing yet. He went 15 for 23 for 161 yards and a touchdown, and his numbers would’ve been even more impressive if not for a drop on perhaps his prettiest throw of the evening.
Rypien not as sharp
The Vikings played two quarterbacks in a rotation on Friday. Brosmer got the start, but Brett Rypien also handled plenty of work. And while the former shined, the latter was far less sharp.
Rypien’s final line was 7 of 14 for 62 yards and a pick. He made a few nice throws, but it wasn’t particularly smooth overall. Rypien’s interception actually wasn’t his fault, as former Vikings defensive tackle James Lynch hit him while he threw, causing the ball to float easily into the arms of a Titans defender. However, he should’ve thrown a second pick in the fourth quarter (it was overturned to an incomplete pass upon review), so it evens out.
The punter battle might be over
This game may well have ended the Vikings’ punting competition — and not because of any punt.
The role of holder is perhaps just as important for a punter as their primary job description. As such, it was quite notable when rookie Oscar Chapman bobbled a hold, resulting in Will Reichard missing a 55-yard field goal wide left. And it was similarly notable when Ryan Wright’s quality hold led to Reichard drilling a 58-yarder not long after.
Price remains fascinating as a returner
Price had another nice return in this game, a 28-yarder that didn’t count due to a penalty. He looks confident with the ball in his hands and is able to make people miss in the open field.
But there’s one concern: his ability to actually catch the ball without issue. It’s been part of the equation throughout training camp and the preseason, and in this one, he nearly muffed a punt before managing to hold on. Price seems to have real juice as a returner, but if he’s going to make the roster and potentially earn that role, the Vikings have to be able to trust that he can catch it cleanly.
Similar to Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel in Preseason 2, Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan opted to play multiple starters on both sides of the ball, including 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward and veteran defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons.
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“I thought the Titans did an amazing job with disguise during the preseason and threw some stuff at us that maybe they showed last year during the regular season and not during preseason,” Brosmer said. “They got us a couple times on it, and hat’s off to them for putting us in a tough situation a couple times, but that’s NFL defense for you. You’re gonna get stuff that you don’t see on film and stuff that you do, and you got to be able to react and play the stuff that you see.
“On that play with a touchdown, I thought Bryson was very decisive. Pro (protection) was awesome. They popped out in [Cover 0], which is not something they showed on film right away. And so Bryson did an amazing job of getting to the right spot and making a guy miss the tackle and scoring. The protection was great. That play was great all around.”
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O’Connell said Batty suffered a right knee injury early and Scott suffered an ankle injury on his kickoff return. Williams suffered a right hamstring injury, and Rypien was evaluated for a concussion but cleared.
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Young defensive linemen get involved
Elijah Williams is listed at 6-foot-3 and 270 yards, but he showed the ability to pick ‘em up and put them down during a kickoff return.
Williams barreled into Jha’Quan Jackson during a kickoff return in the first quarter. He stopped Jackson cold after a return of 26, and the ball was moved further back
It’s been quite a preseason for Williams, who joined the Vikings on a tryout basis during rookie minicamp.
He recorded two tackles and two quarterback hits in Minnesota’s opener against Houston and added five tackles against New England.
Other young defensive linemen also entered the box score.
Rodriguez, a seventh-round pick in 2024, recorded a sack of Allen, and Ingram-Dawkins, a 2025 fifth-round pick, batted a pass at the line of scrimmage.
EDGE Tyler Batty
“Tyler Batty, pretty early there, you know, had a right knee that will evaluate via the MRI,” said head coach Kevin O’Connell.
DT Elijah Williams
This is arguably the most difficult one of the group. During the beginning of the second half, Williams came up lame and ended up leaving the game. It’s a brutal blow for Williams, as he’s arguably had the best training camp of anyone with the Vikings. Could he end up like T.Y. McGill from a few years ago and not make the 53-man roster, but rather get an injury settlement? It’s certainly possible, but if it’s minor, Williams should be a near roster lock.
Now that Minnesota is moving forward with McCarthy, the focus has shifted to who is backing up the former first rounder, and opinion appears to be split on who that should be several weeks into Vikings training camp.
The presumptive favorite as the team entered camp at the end of July was Sam Howell. The 24-year-old is entering his fourth season in the league and has a full season of previous starting experience with the Commanders. However, after a shaky performance in camp and the team’s second preseason game, there’s a chance Howell has been knocked off of his perch, with his spot on the roster as a whole now in question.
“I’ve got three quarterbacks on this roster. Right now, the projection would have it as J.J. McCarthy, Brett Rypien, and Max Brosmer,” said Alec Lewis of The Athletic on a recent episode of his podcast.
The thing that has stuck out to many observers — and the Vikings’ coaching staff — is Brosmer’s mental ability at the position. Lewis called the mental side of his game Brosmer’s “secret sauce” and something that puts him over a guy like Howell, who has struggled with that aspect during his NFL career.
“He has an ability to decipher the picture in split-second form in a way that I just don’t know how many backups across the league (can),” Lewis said of Brosmer.
But is a quarterback room that features McCarthy and Brosmer, two guys who have never thrown an NFL pass, a good idea? Lewis called naming those two guys QB1 and QB2, respectively, a “bold bet to make.”
“I think that’s hard to imagine happening, as good as he’s looked. Because then you’d have two quarterbacks who have not thrown a pass in an NFL game,” said the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling on a recent appearance on the Paul Allen Show. “I think they’d want somebody with more experience, which is why I’ve tended to think Sam Howell keeps that job, because he has started in the NFL before.”
However, if you don’t find a way to get Brosmer onto the squad, other teams are more than likely going to pounce at the option to add a QB who Kevin O’Connell has spoken highly of over the last month.
“He’s been decisive enough and Kevin O’Connell has had enough good things to say about him publicly, that I’m sure — given what Kevin O’Connell has done with quarterbacks — if Kevin O’Connell is saying, ‘Hey I think this guy can play,’ there are teams that are taking notice of that,” continued Goessling.
“He’s looked good. They like him. I think they want him to be in the building,” Lewis said of Brosmer. “It’s just, how do you do that in a way that keeps him yours and doesn’t possibly expose him to somebody else poaching him?”
“Did want to start out just talking about Harrison Phillips for a quick second,” he said. “Obviously, a tough move to make considering just how impactful he’s been to the Minnesota Vikings and our organization, on and off the field. First free agent we signed when Kwesi and I got here, and he was the first one we signed for a reason. The type of man he is, the type of teammate, the type of leader.
“Moves like that are not made without a lot of thought. I got a chance to spend a lot of good time with Harrison, and I also had a chance to talk to (Aaron Glenn) and (Darren Mougey) in New York about the type of player they were getting. I know he’ll have the same impact there, in a new regime there. As they build their culture up, Harrison Phillips will be great for it.”
“The thing that you have to understand, in the (DT) room, acquiring veteran presences like JA and Grave, they’ve really been immediate impact players on and off the field,” he said. “Guys that have sustained it and done it at a high level for a really long time. That doesn’t go into the hard decision like that, as far as the leadership goes, but you do know that we’ve got some ascending players on our roster, offensively and defensively, that are ready to assume that void. We’ve gotta make sure we’re on top of that because of his impact.”
OLB Tyler Batty (right knee) will be evaluated via MRI. RB Zavier Scott (right ankle) had an early 23-yard run but then left the field limping on one of his next carries. DT Elijah Williams (right hamstring) is a candidate to make the roster in the wake of the Phillips trade, but he could also potentially begin the year on IR (designated to return) if he has a hamstring strain. All three of those players have impressed over the course of training camp.
Browns Receive: 2026 sixth-round pick
Vikings Recevie: Kenny Pickett
“With Pickett dealing with injuries during training camp—and failing to distinguish himself in the Browns’ high-profile four-man QB positional battle when healthy—his time in Cleveland could be extremely limited. The Vikings might prefer a backup with some experience to work behind J.J. McCarthy this season. While Pickett has had his struggles since being drafted in the first round in 2022, he boasts a respectable 15-10 record as a starter and could provide Minnesota with a quality insurance option for an unproven young signal-caller,” Kay wrote.
The deal would make sense for both parties, as the Browns have a crowded QB room, and if Flacco flames out, there are two rookies in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders that the team is eager to evaluate behind him.
Minnesota could use a reliable veteran, given the fact that J.J. McCarthy missed all of last season with a meniscus injury and is a first-year starter.
Sam Howell and Max Brosmer are the QBs behind McCarthy on the depth chart, so there is plenty of room for Pickett.
The problem would be selling this to Browns fans, as the team happily traded a fifth-round pick for Pickett early in the offseason, so trading him away for a sixth in return before even seeing him suit up in Cleveland would not be ideal.
The Houston Texans have tried to rectify their backfield situation this offseason, signing Nick Chubb in free agency and selecting Woody Marks in the NFL Draft. However, questions still remain.
For one thing, Joe Mixon is dealing with a lingering foot/ankle injury that could keep him out for the start of the season. That would place the burden on the shoulders of Chubb, the injury-prone veteran who looked like a shell of himself during his final year with the Cleveland Browns.
Marks definitely has potential, but he is just a rookie, so it seems hard to imagine the Texans relying too heavily on the USC product.
As a result, some feel that Houston may pursue a running back trade before Week 1, and Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports has linked the Texans to Minnesota Vikings halfback Ty Chandler.
“There was a time, not long ago, when Chandler was considered the electric change-of-pace man in Minnesota’s backfield, scampering for more than 450 yards as a second-year reserve while helping succeed Dalvin Cook,” Benjamin wrote. “He saw a big dip in playing time after Aaron Jones’ arrival in 2024, however, and now he’s on the roster bubble thanks to Jordan Mason’s entry and Zavier Scott’s strong summer. His breakaway upside could have value elsewhere.”
Yes, Vikings running back Aaron Jones compared J.J. McCarthy’s football brain to Aaron Rodgers. That’s an incredible compliment from a teammate, but one that comes with a bit more strength since Jones was Rodgers’ teammate in Green Bay for six seasons.
“He’s very determined and he’s very hungry. You see him in meetings asking those questions, trying to get a deeper understanding when the next person might be like, ‘alright, I got the play down,’ but he’s trying to get the full concept,” Jones began in a conversation about McCarthy with Kay Adams.
“He’s just smart, the way he studies the game,” Jones continued before dropping the Rodgers comparison. “There would be things, I come in my rookie year and A-Rod would be like, ‘the blitz is coming from here,’” Jones explained. “A-Rod would be able to do that and he helped me out so much. He helped me out so much my first two years in pass protection, like hey, this guy’s coming and if he doesn’t come this guy’s coming.”
The Rodgers’ comp continued: “Then the way he goes about himself. HIs preparation and the way they treat people. It all stems from up here (*pointing at his head) and that drive, and you can see it when you step on the field.”
Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard also praised McCarthy when talking to Adams, saying the 22-year-old “has a very high IQ for the game.”
“He’s made some crazy throws. Our D-line, we’ve been getting after him, so he’s been getting real live reps,” Greenard said. “To still see him standing in the pocket, making certain throws or evade the pocket and does what he does, it’s exciting. I just love to see him just continuously keep going back. Even if we get a sack, he’s going right back like, ‘I don’t care, we’re going to do a it again.’ Just that resilient mindset — and it’s infectious to all of us.”
Greenard added: “The sky’s the limit for him. That’s why I’m excited to see what he does come first game, because it’s going to be a show for sure.”
As his development speeds up, the game is slowing down for Kobe King.
The Vikings rookie linebacker said this week that he is keen on sharpening his situational awareness above all else. He is absorbing copious amounts of information in meetings, peppering coaches and teammates with questions if he’s stumped, and expanding his F.B.I. (football intelligence) foundation.
“I definitely thought the speed of the game was a little fast when I first got here, but things are slowing down mentally, and it’s very helpful,” King noted following a scaled-down training camp practice Tuesday.
“Being situationally aware, especially at this level, is very heightened,” King added, distinguishing it as the single-most important thing he’s observed. “That’s something that I have to expand on as a player.”
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“A lot of times in football we make it harder than it is,” General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said at the conclusion of the draft. “But it’s a meat-and-potatoes game in some positions, and linebacker is one of them.”
“I watched him, and I was like, ‘There’s no way he’ll be there when this projection says he will be,’ ” the former Wall Street trader added, recalling a draft simulation exercise by his staff. “Sometimes you get lucky. But you pick up the phone and you talk to somebody, and you hear it in their voice that they also don’t think they should have been there. That gets you pretty fired up to bring them over to Minnesota.”
The defining trait of King’s game, and what pops into Brian Flores’ brain, is physicality.
“He’s a downhill linebacker, kind of an old school ‘backer – big, physical,” the Vikings Defensive Coordinator said Tuesday. “But he’s still learning. He’s still getting better as a rusher and in coverage. But all the young players are still learning, and we’ve seen improvement in all those areas, and we just need to continue to improve and improve and improve. I think he’s somebody who’s got a bright future.”
King said he models his game (“How I should be playing”), first and foremost, after Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis. He also listed active inside linebackers Lavonte David, Roquan Smith and Devin White as inspiration of “loud, infectious leaders” that rule the middle with a commanding presence.
“[Lewis] is my favorite linebacker of all-time,” King said. “I’m planning to get to that level in my career down the line, but it definitely starts now. I’ve got to dial into the playbook, dial into the scheme, really master it, and understand it to a different extent to where I can be a coach on the field for those guys.”
Flores can’t help but see someone from a totally different era when he watches the 22-year-old play.
“I think of Pepper Johnson,” he remarked. “Great friend of mine.”
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Teammate Blake Cashman, who paced the Vikings defense in 2024 with 112 tackles despite missing three games, called King “one of the bigger, stronger inside linebackers I’ve probably ever played with.”
“But,” Cashman added, “he moves really well.”
“He’s made tremendous strides throughout training camp,” the veteran linebacker commented. “Obviously, as a young player, your coaches are going to challenge you or have specific things that they want to see you work on. And it seems like every week he’s improving in those areas. But my favorite thing about a guy like Kobe, and even the other rookies we’ve got in the (LB) room, is how much their IQ of the game is growing and just really understanding how offenses are going to attack this defense.
“I think this is a unique defense in the way that we kind of handicap offenses on what they can do, which is great for us because it allows us to play a lot faster, and anticipate or expect certain plays,” Cashman continued. “I’ve had a year under my belt to develop that recognition. But to be coached on that, as players like myself have been coached on that – [he’s] really picking it up quick, so I’m really excited to see him continue to grow because he’s added a lot of value to our room.”
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King’s evolution on defense for the Nittany Lions occurred incrementally. In 2021, he played 39 snaps according to Pro Football Focus. That sprouted to 289 in 2022, grew to 331 in 2023 and spiked to 540 in 2024.
A breakthrough on special teams during King’s redshirt freshman season became a defining moment in his football journey. King’s play in that phase taught him to weaponize his body and attacking mentality.
“Special teams was the area where I got a chance to go out and be physical and run down and hit somebody and exude my physicality,” he reflected. “That’s definitely when I understood, ‘OK, I’m physical. I’m fast. I can use this to help me for the rest of my college career and go on to the next level.’”
That awareness benefits King’s potential to breakthrough, again, as a core special-teamer.
“You really like his versatility,” Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels said Wednesday.
“I think the shrinking of the kickoff, KOR (kickoff return) phase really helps in his favor in terms of being able to play good gap-and-a-half football – shock, shed, getting off of blocks, being able to tackle in space,” Daniels explained. “You can kind of see now [in] the kickoff game you’re starting to get a lot more bigger bodies out there, so with him we feel good about him being a matchup-plus in that position.”
King is 6-foot-1, so he’s not the tallest linebacker by any stretch. But his raw strength matches his throwback persona. Daniels said, “Kob’ is probably one of the strongest guys in the weight room.”
Daniels suggested King as one of the players vying to replace the impact of former Vikings linebacker Brian Asamoah II, who accrued 321 snaps on various special teams units last year: “He’s just got to continue to grow and understand what our cover philosophy is; how to communicate verbally and non-verbally,” Daniels said. “But Kobe’s on a really good track right now [and has] put together a good offseason.”
King’s intentionality – logging mental repetitions when he’s not in the mix, for example – is valuable to his continued development. So is his mindset of “having a chip on my shoulder every down, every play.”
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